Saturday, 2 May 2015

Hippodrome Istanbul

Hippodrome – Off to the Races

The Ancient Romans and Greeks are
descendants of the Proto-Indo-European (aka Aryan) tribes who
were a horse riding culture from the Caucasus.The PIE invented the chariot and it was the primary war technology that
enabled the PIE tribes to invade India (Vedic people), Turkey (Hittites
and Lycians) and Europe (Romans, Greeks, et al).

Off to the Races

So it is not surprising that the ancients
loved chariot racing.Built in the 4th
century CE, the Hippodrome was a 100,000 seat venue for chariot races and other
entertainment.The name is derived from
the Greek words hippos ("horse") and dromos
("course").I wonder what the
tickets cost?Unfortunately, nothing is
left of the stands, which were mined for building materials.All that is left is the modern road paved
over the location of the oval race course, which is actually well below the
current ground level.

The park before the Blue Mosque was the location of the royal lodge, where the imperial family watched the races. It was connected to their palace, which stood on the grounds of the Blue Mosque (coming to a post near you).

Tripod of Plataea

Delphi, Greece

All empires pillage the art and sculpture
of their conquered territories.The
Byzantines decorated the spina (spine) of their track with artifacts
from around the empire.Constantine
ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi and set in middle of the Hippodrome.

Serpent Uprising

The Tripod of Plataea, now known as the
Serpent Column, may not look like much.It celebrates the victory of the Greeks over the Persians at the Battle
of Plataea (479 BC). One of the Persian objectives was to punish Athens for
supporting the Ionians, who occupied the Turquoise Coast.The war ended with the defeat of the Ionians
in a naval battle outside Miletus (their capital) in 494 BC.While the Persians conquered Ionia
(temporarily), the war marked the last time the Persian Empire attacked
mainland Greece.

What you see today is the bodies of three
serpents twisted into one pillar of brass.What you don't see are the three heads supporting a golden tripod.What you don't know is that the bronze column
was built using the bronze from the melted-down Persian weapons.

Obelisk of Thutmose
III

1/3 of Original Obelisk!

﻿﻿The Obelisk of Thutmose III was
originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of
Tuthmosis III in about 1490 BC.Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to
Constantinople.Today only the upper
third remains!

Racing with Theodosius

﻿﻿One of the most
interesting things is to examine the rectangular base closely.Bas-reliefs on the base depict Emperor
Theodosius watching the races from the Royal lodge.

How to raise an obelisk

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿The Hagia Sophia side depicts the raising of
the obelisk using pulleys.It's still
hard to believe how they could lift such heavy red granite.

﻿﻿Another more recent monument is the
German Fountain, which will be described in a future post.

Nika Riots

The New Empire

Emperor Justinian (527 - 565) expanded
the empire to its greatest extent reclaiming much of the original Roman
Empire.He took back Northern Africa
from the Vandals and Dalmatia, Sicily, Venice and Rome from the Ostrogoths.

Chariot teams were identified by colours
blue, green, red, and white. Social/political classes would support their own
chariots.The team associations had
become a focus for various social and political issues for which the general
Byzantine population lacked other forms of outlet.
﻿

The Nika Riots were a sports riot fuelled
by rivalry in the Hippodrome and opposition to the high taxes impose by Emperor
Justinian!At this same moment he was
negotiating a peace treaty with Persia.

Justinian had called for races on January
13th. By the end of the day the crowd changed their chants from blue or green
to Nika. For the next 5 days they assaulted the palace.They started fires.Some senators opposed the new legal system and the new taxes saw
this as an opportunity to overthrow Justinian and declare a new emperor in the Hippodrome itself.Justinian paid off the Blues in gold and they
left in the middle of the coronation in the Hippodrome.The imperial troops then killed the remaining Greens.In the end 30,000 rioters were killed.So that rivals any soccer/football
hooliganism of today!

Hagia Sophia v3.0

Half of the city as well as Hagia Sophia
version 2.0 was burnt down during the Nika riots.Justinian then built the current version 3.0 of Hagia Sophia
with the largest dome raised since the Pantheon in Rome.

Vitale Byzantine Mosaics

He built the Byzantine
mosaic masterpiece of San Vitale Church in Ravenna, Italy. He constructed several underground water
supplies like the Basilica Cistern, to ensure adequate water
supply in the event of a siege.

His biggest legacy might be the rewriting
of Roman law, which is the basis of civil law in many modern countries.So why did the Byzantine Empire decline?It started with the bubonic or Justinian
plague.We who live in the present
cannot appreciate the impact of huge losses of population.

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About Us

The purpose of this blog is to ignite your
sense of wonder and help you appreciate travelling and learning about the world. It covers art, architecture, culture and traditions that are
relevant to travel. Interesting stories highlight how one culture has impacted another culture.

We have lived and travelled around the world, particularly in Europe (7 years), North and Central America. We have led courses and seminars on travel and culture appreciation at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan Univ. and the Edmonton Convention Centre. We plan all of our trip itineraries by computer.